A Young Girl Received A Sexist Homework Assignment, So Her Mom Just Rewrote It

Lynne Polvino was helping her 6-year-old daughter Hazel with a homework assignment when she noticed a truly unfortunate message communicated as a result of our nation's outdated curriculums. A simple fill-in-the-blank exercise told the story of a young girl named Lisa, who was very unhappy because her mother was returning to work, which caused a bunch of unnecessary stress around the house.

Lisa's mother returning to work isn't the only thing that causes problems in the story. Her father also tries to make breakfast and—oh no—he's a horrible cook!

Polvino was incensed! She commented:

"It just pushed so many buttons for me, and with each sentence it managed to get worse! My shock and dismay quickly turned to outrage. I mean, what decade are we in, anyway? In this day and age, we're going to tell kids that mothers working outside the home makes their children and families unhappy? That fathers don't normally do things like cook and wash the dishes?"

According to her mother, Hazel was unfazed by the story, focusing on which word was supposed to fill in the blank. But Polvino was more concerned about the assignment, knowing that if children are repeatedly asked by authority figures to read and contribute to stories like these, they'll eventually accept them as normal. She decided to rewrite the story to more accurately portray the life she'd like for her children!

Polvino rewrote the story in a more positive light:

In Polvino's version of the story, Lisa's mother returning to work isn't something Lisa dreads. The father makes a great breakfast and no one is stressed because "Dad had things under control." Polvino said she wanted her version of the story "to reflect the kind of world I want to live in, the kind of world I want my kids to live in when they’re old enough to have jobs and families."

[iframe https://giphy.com/embed/l2JJs57WKffxtMBFe allowfullscreen="" class=^{{"giphy-embed"}}^ frameborder="0" height="269" width="480"]

Facebook users are incredibly thankful for Polvino's rewrite:

If you're wondering where Polvino got her writing skills, it should come as no surprise that she works as a children's books editor in Manhattan. She passed her concerns along to Hazel's teacher via email and the teacher agreed the assignment was outdated. They'll be reviewing the worksheets a little closer in the future!